Hey, Stage 32 members! We'd LOVE to hear your questions, comments, and any words of encouragement for our contest winners. COMMENT BELOW to keep the conversation going during and after the panel! Here's a little about the event:
"We officially announced the winners of our 6th Annual Stage 32 Short Film Contest, and now it's time to hear the story behind the films with this Emerging Voices in Filmmaking Panel! Throughout the course of the contest, we welcome thousands of entries from filmmakers all over the world. We had films submitted from over 40 countries, and our 9 winning films hail from 5 different countries!
Since 2016, winners from Stage 32's Short Film Contest have gone on to be signed (UTA, Echo Lake, Verve, Circle of Confusion, and more), financed, and produced. Congratulations to all this year's winners - we cannot wait to see where your talents take you!"
What were your big takeaways from the panel? SHARE BELOW!
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It was truly fantastic to meet everyone and to have been a part of this really lovely event! You're films are really fantastic!!! Thank you Stage32, Taylor C. Baker and Karen "Kay" Ross! Would have lo...
Expand commentIt was truly fantastic to meet everyone and to have been a part of this really lovely event! You're films are really fantastic!!! Thank you Stage32, Taylor C. Baker and Karen "Kay" Ross! Would have loved to have heard so much more of everyone's stories!
www.davidkellycrow.com
1 person likes this
During the panel, I spoke briefly about the Taiwanese fortune-teller who predicted that the original shoot for my short was going to be a disaster. I wrote an article a couple of months back where I t...
Expand commentDuring the panel, I spoke briefly about the Taiwanese fortune-teller who predicted that the original shoot for my short was going to be a disaster. I wrote an article a couple of months back where I tell the story in a little more detail, and also go into the perils of shooting in Taiwan during 'Ghost Month'. You can check the article out here:
https://dickychalmers.substack.com/p/superstition-and-moviemaking-in-tai...
3 people like this
To prepare for ANGEL's shoot, and to accommodate limited time in the location, and limited time with actors, I did extensive storyboarding using Cine Tracer, a process I found incredibly rewarding. Yo...
Expand commentTo prepare for ANGEL's shoot, and to accommodate limited time in the location, and limited time with actors, I did extensive storyboarding using Cine Tracer, a process I found incredibly rewarding. You can read about my experience using Cine Tracer here, and also see some side-by-side comparisons between previs and final shots:
https://dickychalmers.substack.com/p/how-to-storyboard-a-short-film?r=17...
3 people like this
I’m sure all of us on the panel had so many more stories we wanted to tell, and so much more advice we wanted to impart. If there had been time to throw one more thing in there, I would have wanted to...
Expand commentI’m sure all of us on the panel had so many more stories we wanted to tell, and so much more advice we wanted to impart. If there had been time to throw one more thing in there, I would have wanted to talk about marketing — getting one’s short film out there, and getting people to watch it.
Making ANGEL was hard enough, but I wasn’t at all ready for the fact that I would then have to spend the best part of a year submitting it to film festivals, and convincing people to watch it. While sites such as Film Freeway do make the process of festival submission much easier, every festival still has its own specific requirements as regards press materials, screening formats etc. I have lost count of the many hours I have spent making new posters, social media assets, rendering out different specifications of the short film, writing up press releases, tweaking the word counts of bios and synopses. Anyhow, I now know that this is all part of the gig. However, the advice I would like to impart connected to this is: make sure you get lots of BTS.
Behind the scenes footage and photos were very much an afterthought on my shoot. I only had enough budget to have a photographer on set for a few hours on one day. But now, I wish the photographer had been there for the entire shoot. At the time, I was only focused on making the film, and to that end BTS is irrelevant. However, BTS is a crucial part of a film’s marketing, and the more assets you have, the easier that marketing will be. If your film is accepted, many festivals will ask for 3~5 BTS photos. Also, if your BTS is interesting, festival marketing teams are more motivated to publicise your film over others. Furthermore, having lots of good BTS images will make your social media posting much easier, since you won’t need to keep on reposting the same poster or framegrabs from your film. And to clarify, when I say BTS, I mean not just images of the set showing the filmmaking process, I also mean photos that tell the story of the film. The latter can be used to create poster images, and are very useful for press kits and social media posts.
And keeping on this topic of trying to get one’s short film out in the world… I am incredibly grateful to Stage 32 for letting my film be a part of this Short Film Program. With one submission fee, a film has the possibility of being screened at TWO film festivals, and being featured in an exclusive online screening that is viewed by Stage 32’s network of executives and agents. This helping hand in giving a film exposure is priceless!
3 people like this
Thanks for the Cine Tracer review, Dicky Chalmers! Even though mockery of my stick-figures and poor drawing skills has been the source of many instances of much-needed comic relief on sets in the past...
Expand commentThanks for the Cine Tracer review, Dicky Chalmers! Even though mockery of my stick-figures and poor drawing skills has been the source of many instances of much-needed comic relief on sets in the past, I do see how this software can be beneficial in so many ways. I will definitely check it out. And with the time and money saved on set, using this storyboarding program, I may even be able to afford other means of entertainment for cast and crew in the future!